I've been a long-time lover of the fantasy genre. As a child, I'd spend hours - whether in my head, or deep within a book - traversing lush realms, befriending magical creatures, and cultivating arcane powers. Fantasy offered an escape from the mundanity of everyday life. A quote from my childhood diary:
"I am REALLY bored. My friend is coming to play but that isn't until 12:00. There is NOTHING to do! Oh how I wish I could go on an adventure in a magical land or maybe solve a mystery. I keep wishing something like that will happen but it never does. Why does life do this?"
I was a little dramatic back then but the sentiment remains the same.
And then, as I grew older, I discovered that romance books were equally great at delivering some light-hearted escapism. Top sellers from Emily Henry, Ali Hazelwood, and Christina Lauren, amongst others, perhaps weren't the most realistic or introspective books, but they were fun. I unashamedly read the entirety of the main Bridgerton series during one of the COVID lockdowns, and it was just what I needed amongst all the doom and gloom. Romance might not be my go-to genre, but it's undoubtedly a mood-lifter.
So what about Romantasy?
It would seem to follow that "Romantasy" - the buzzword for the fusion genre of romance and fantasy, popularised through social media communities like BookTok - would be right up my alley. However, big romantasy hits were often a miss for me. Stories of dragon academies and fae realms were entertaining, but didn't quite capture my heart. That's not to say there weren't some winners from time to time, but the magic of the fantasy and romance genres often seemed to be lost in their amalgamation. Perhaps the romance was so focused on to the point where the fantasy world felt empty. Or the complicated world-building lead to a lack of character development and the romance then fell flat.
Despite this, I've been on a continuous quest to find romantasy books that fit my tastes. Romantasy fascinates me as a cultural phenomenon. It's one of the highest selling book genres of recent times. Social media trends and communities have been formed around it. You can't walk into a mainstream bookstore without finding a wall of romantasy reads. And they are often promoted through tropes, such as "enemies to lovers", "forbidden romance", "cozy fantasy", "assassin", "forced proximity", "morally grey"... the list goes on. If there's a type of story you want to hear, there's a book for it.
So what better event for me to attend than WORD Christchurch 2025's The Romance of Fantasy"? Authors Andrea Eames and Rachael Craw will be speaking to their fantastical, romance-filled stories, "A Harvest of Hearts" and "The Lost Saint", and the magic that went into writing them.
The books
I checked out Andrea Eames and Rachael Craw's novels to see if they could scratch that romantasy itch.
A Harvest of Hearts is a fairytale-like story set in a land where the source of magic is drawn from hearts. The kingdom's sorceresses, all unfathomably beautiful, visit the villages on occasion and subtly but surely take bits and pieces of hearts to use. In exchange for this slow mutilation of the commoners, the sorceresses work their magic to keep the kingdom free from harm, prosperous and peaceful. However, in rare instances sorceresses have been known to take whole hearts, the owner coming away drained and dazed, a husk of their former self.
Our main character Foss, a plain butcher's daughter, acknowledges the sorceresses' allure but all the same takes some delight in the spellbinding effect they have on the poor idiot villagers. That is, until a male sorcerer visits town for the first time one fateful day. With nothing but a gaze, Foss's heart is stolen from her. In pain, hollow and exhausted, she decides that she must head to the city and demand that the sorcerer return what he snagged. And so begins a journey to his strange abode, where she encounters a house that changes depending on its inhabitants' needs, befriends a talking cat, becomes a housekeeper for the handsome, aloof sorcerer (who she cannot help being desperately in love with - after all, he literally has her heart), and begins to unravel a dark truth behind the kingdom's ruler.
The first half of this novel felt cozy, the type of book that I'd love to read curled up next to a fire with a cup of hot chocolate. Its fairytale-like style gives it a nostalgic, warm air, and the writing is whimsical and charming. I loved the descriptions of people and place, Foss's cynicism and wit, and everything said and done by the adorable cat Cornelius. The plot takes a darker turn as Foss learns more about the kingdom's magic and to what purposes the sorceresses' collections of stolen hearts are being put towards - but the book remains enjoyable all the same. A win for me!
In an incredibly cool concept, "The Lost Saint" drags a young woman and her friends from the present day to medieval Germany, where they're set upon by war-mongering Northmen determined to sacrifice them. Intense! The writing in this one was lush and vivid - you feel like you're really in the cave when a giant, space-and-time-altering earthquake hits and thrusts its survivors into the battle-ravaged forests of the 1300s.
Our main survivor, Ana, becomes separated from her classmates but is luckily rescued by Leon, a literal knight in shining armour. But with Leon wounded, fierce warriors and a grumpy landowner on her trail, and the emergence of some strange powers, Ana's got a lot of obstacles in her path. Her overarching goal is to reach Eadin Palace, a holy place cemented in myth and history, in the hopes that she will be reunited with her friends.
The Lost Saint shines in its action and lore, and the amusing interactions between people of entirely different time periods. I've always thought that medieval folk would implode if they ever encountered cellphones. The characters here don't react in such an extreme way, but it's pretty hilarious regardless:
'Your musical box. Is it some manner of hurdy-gurdy? A symphonia?... I have never heard such a hurdy-gurdy as this, nor seem one so small. It is surely a marvel.'
'Give it back,' she cried, lunging over his arm, grappling for the phone. The camera activated and their fumbling clicked a photo. The bastard gasped. ‘It is my face!’ ‘That’s right, arsehole.’ Inspiration landed. 'Now I have your soul. If you want it back, let me go!' ... 'My soul?' he rasped. The photo disappeared as he groped at the screen one-handed. 'Where did it go? What is this, you little b*tch?'
The Romance of Fantasy
If you're a romantasy reader - or even if you aren't one but want to see what all the fuss is about this genre - then make sure to grab your tickets for "The Romance of Fantasy", Sunday 31st August 2:30pm-3:30pm in Tautoru / TSB Space, Hapori / Community | Level 1, Tūranga. I'm excited to indulge in some good old escapism for an hour!
See more
WORD Christchurch
Check the programme online or pick up a printed copy from your library.
- WORD Christchurch website
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- Our WORD Christchurch 2025 page - Find books by writers coming to this year's festival
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